Railway-gate.



PATENTED Nov. 26, 19o?.

P. J. STEIN. RAILWAY GATE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 13, 1907.

No. 872,028. PATENTBD NOV. 26, 1907. F. J. STEIN.

RAILWAY GATE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 13. 1907.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

FRANK JACUP STEIN, OF DAVENPORT, IOWA.

RAILWAY-GATE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 26, 1907'.

Application filed May 13| 1907. Serial No. 373.344.

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, FRANK JACUP STEIN, a i citizen of the United States,residing at Davenport, in the county of Scott and State of l Iowa, haveinvented new and useful Iml provements in Railway-Gates, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to that class of fence gates which are used tobar passage along a path or highway at a railwav crossing when a trainis approaching.

The object of the invention is to provide mechanical means whereby suchgates may be operated automatically b f passing trains, to close when atrain is approaching and to open when it passes.

To this end my invention consists in the construction and combination ofparts forming a railway gate hereinafter more fully described, andparticularly set forth in the claims, reference being had to theaeco1npanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of a pairof railway gates according to my invention; portions being broken awayto bring distant parts within the view. Fig. 2 represents in sideelevation some principal parts of the operating mechanism designed forclosing the gatesby the action of passing car wheels, and for permittingthe gates to open bythe action of gravity. Fig. 3 represents the samemechanism as that shown in Fig. 2, but with the connections arranged forthe gates to be closed by the action of gravity and opened by the actionof passing car wheels. Fig. 4 is a side view and Fig. 5 is a plan viewof the gate operating machine. Fig. 6 is a side view and Fig. 7 a planview of the actuating pedal mechanism. Fig. S is a side view and Fig. 9is a plan view of the tripping pedal.

To avoid confusion I describe only one gate, any greater number beingmere duplicates of the first.

Numerals 12, 12/ represent a pair of gates located at the sides of arailway crossing. Each gate is mounted upon a shaft 17 which rocks inbearing posts 13 and is provided with one or more balance weights 16,16', which overbalance the weight of the gate enough to raise the gateand to hold it in its normally raised position when the gate is nototherwise actuated.

19 represents a radial arm on shaft 17, connected with an elbow lever 20by means of a rod 21. The elbow lever is pivoted at 20 to a permanentiixture.

15 represents a rail of the railway.

5S represents in its normal resting position a ratchet toothed segmentmounted on a shaft 22 which is journaled in bearings 23 held upon anysuitable fixture, such as the frame 24, so that the segment may swing toand fro through an arc of about 90.

25 is an actuating pedal mounted on a shaft 26, that is journaled inbearings 27 fixed upon beams 2S that are fastened to the cross ties 29.The pedal 25 is provided with a roller 30 which is located beside therail 15, in the path of passing car wheel flanges, and each passingwheel swings the pedal in the direction in which the wheel is traveling.

31 is an intermediate arm upon shaft 26, having a roller 32 which bearsagainst an actuating lever 33 that is journaled at 3,4 to a fixture.

35 is a pulling spring, radially hung to the arm 31 and to a iixture ata point 36 which is the same radial line. This spring acts constantly torestore the pedal 25 to its normal vertical position whether it be swungto the right or left by passing car wheels.

37 is a pawl engaging the ratchet teeth 53 and pivotally hung upon alever 3S which is freely journaled upon the shaft 22.

39 is a detent engaging ratchet teeth 5S and pivoted at 40 to somefixture, as frame 24.

Mounted on a shaft 22 is a lever 41 ending in a double cam 43, 44. Cam43 is located under a roller 45 which is mounted on the side of a pawl37, and cam 44 is located under a roller 46 which is mounted on the sideof the detent 39. Then lever 41 is brought into operation the two camswedge under their respective rollers and raise the pawl 37 and thedetent out of engagement with the ratchet 5S.

46 is a rod connecting levers 33 and 3S, and 47 is a rod connectinglever 41 with atrip pedal 4S through an intermediate lever 52 an arm 5()and a rock shaft 50C The trip pedal is located at or near the crossingand in the path of passing ear wheel flanges. Lever 52 is pivoted at 53to a fixture.

51 is a spring which acts to restore the pedal to its normal raisedposition every time it is depressed by a passing car wheel.

54 is a release lever pivoted at 55 to the frame 24, and having one endlocated in the path of the toothed segment 53, and the other end in thepath of one arm of lever 41.

56 represents protecting springs located as links in the lines ofconnection between parts that are acted upon by the car wheels and themechanism that is actuated thereby. These springs serve to protect themechanism from being broken by the sudden action of rapidly passing carwheels, the impact of which upon the pedals is almost like a hammerblow; and in case anything should prevent the movement of a gate or ofother parts connected with the pedals these springs would yield enoughto permit the full move ment of the pedals, and yet the springs arestiff enough to perform the full function of connecting links to operatethe gates under normal conditions.

57 is a rod connecting the toothed segment 58, by means of lever 62 andshaft 22, with the elbow lever of the gate. As the connecting rods 46,47, 57 etc., have only a pulling action they may be replaced by chains.cables or other suitable devices. The actuating pedals may be located atany distance from the crossing required, to safely close the gate beforethe arrival of approachin@ trains.

rln operation, a train passing in the direction of the arrow 58, hitswith its wheel lianges, the roller 30 on pedal 25 and through it,communicates motion to shaft 26, arm 31, roller 32, lever 33, rod 46,lever 38, pawl 37, ratchet segment 58, rod 57, elbow lever 20, rod 21,arm 19 and shaft 17 to the gate 12, whereby the gate'is gradually swungdown, step by step, corresponding with the impulses given by the carwheels or trucks. 1f a trainis passing slowly the pedal 25 will bereturned to its normal position by the spring 35 aftery the passing ofeach wheel over it, so as to carry the pawl 37 over a tooth of segment58 at each movement, but with a rapidly passing train the pedal wouldhave opportunity to fully operate between trucks and between cars only.The detent 39 holds the segment at every tooth of advance, and when thegate is closed down a blank space 59 of the segment is reached by pawl37 so that the continued movements of the pedal as wheels pass over it,produce no further effect on the segment. 1f it be a single track road aduplicate of the actuating pedal 25 and its connections, as shown at A,Fig. 3, would be located at B, but its connecting rod 60 would actuatethe lever 38 through an intermediate lever 61 and a train passingtowards the left would operate to close the gate. 1f it were a doubletrack road the pedal 25 and its connections would be duplicated at DFig. 1, the shaft 53 extending across under the rails. 1f gates arerequired at each side of the railway it is only necessary to duplicatethe gates 12, 12', and connect them with shafts 20 extended across underthe tracks, then all four gates would be closed as one through themedium of the one ratchet segment 58 whether the train comes raise thegate.

`carrying lever,

from the left or right. When, after having lowered the gates, a wheel ofa train passes over the trip pedal 48 that pedal is depressed andcommunicates motion through lever 52, rod 47, lever 41 and the cams 43,44, thereon to raise the pawl 37 and the detent 39 out of engagementwith toothed segment 58, thus releasing the same so that the weights onthe gates 12, 12 may raise the gates and return the segment to itsnormal position, as shown. Just before reaching its inal resting placeas shown in Figs. 2 and 3 the segment 58 engages the release lever 54and causes it to raise the adjacent arm of lever 41, and to swing theother arm with its cams 43, 44 out of engagement with the pawl anddetent, thus restoring all operative parts to their normal positions ofrest, to wait for the next train. It will be seen that wheels passingeither way over the tripping pedal 48 will actuate it to release thegate for closing. On the other hand, a train passing from the crossingeither way as, for example, to the left at A, or to the right at B,should not close the gate, therefore the intermediate arm 31 isintroduced between pedal 25 and lever 33 to permit pedal 25 to swingfreely 'and independently of lever 33 at such times. 1f the gate werebalanced to be closed instead of opened by gravity it would be onlynecessary to reverse the connections as shown in Fig. 3, connect thelever 33 to ac tuate the cam lever 41, thus releasing the pawl 37 anddetent 39 and permitting the gate to close. The segment, striking lever54, would actuate the cam lever 41 to drop the pawl and detent ready toact again when the gate reaches the bottom of its path, but to operatethe pawl, the lever 61 is to be connected with pedal 48, then wheelscoming to the crossing from either way would operate to The mechanismand connections may be boxed or housed in any suitable manner.

Having thus fully described my invention what 1 believe to be new anddesire to secure by Letters Patent is the following:

1. A railway gate hung on journal bearings for up and down movement andbalanced to be moved one way by gravity a ratchet toothed segmentmounted on a shaft journaled in fixed bearings, a lever hung to swingbeside the said segment and a pawl on the lever to engage the segmentteeth, a detent engaging the said teeth and pivoted to a fixture g anactuating pedal located beside a rail in the path of car wheel flangesand mounted on a shaft which passes under the rail; an arm fixed to theshaft, a lever journaled to a iixture to be engaged by the arm whenmoving in one direction, a connection between the last named lever andthe pawland a connection between the gate and the toothed segment,whereby the passing of car wheels along the said rail will actuate thegate to swing, step by step, in the direction opposed to the action ofgravity.

2. The combination of a railway gate journaled and balanced to swing oneway by the action of gravity; a ratchet-toothed segment journaled toswing in bearings, aiid connections between it and the gate; a pawl anda detent engaging the teeth of the said segment; an actuating pedallocated in the path of a passing car wheel, and connections between thesaid pawl and pedal; a double cam hung beside the said segment to engageboth said paWl and detent, and a release lever located in the paths ofboth the said segment and cam lever.

3. ln railway gates, a toothed segment mounted for reciprocatingmovement; an actuating pawl and a detent 'for the segment; a double cammounted beside the said segment to engage both pawl and detent; a1eleasing lever located in the paths of both the said segment and thecam, and connections substantially as shown and described.

In testimony whereof I allix my signature, in presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

R. J. VVALTHERS, FRED ROUFFE.

